(From left):Dr Hesham Al-Sallami, Professor Stephen Duffull and Dr Daniel Wright.
Professor Norris declared 63 Hanover Street officially open on Friday 14th October 2016 following a Māori blessing directed by Hatarei Temo (Kaitohutohu Māori). Associate Professor Marilyn Hibma (Health Sciences Division Administration, Space Portfolio) was invited to help celebrate after working with the School of Pharmacy for about a year to help secure 63 Hanover Street for the School as it expands and grows.
In 1980 the School of Pharmacy moved into the top 3 floors of the Adams Building with an additional 1.5 floors being added in 1996. Now, with 398 undergraduates, 45 PhD students, 3 Masters students 76 postgrad taught students, and 78 staff, additional office space is needed.
“We have outgrown our space,” said Professor Pauline Norris. “For a long time we resisted the idea that any of the school whānau (family) would leave the Adams building and be offsite. But now, like people whose family have out-grown their house, we have to set-up some kind of sleep-out arrangement in the backyard and allow some of the whānau to move out there.”
The Otago Pharmacometrics Group (OPG) are the whānau that have moved out of the main building. Professor Stephen Duffull established the group in 2006 where he worked alone in an empty laboratory. Now OPG has 16 people in the group with 3 academics, 1 visiting research fellow, 1 postdoctoral research fellow, 8 PhD students, 1 visiting researcher and 2 Honours students, with 2 more PhD students to start in the next few months.
“The prime focus of the Otago Pharmacometrics Group is to individualise medicines to meet the needs of the individual. We develop mathematical models of the effects of medicines that allow us to determine how the medicine might perform in a population of people and an individual person” explains Professor Duffull.
Over the past 2 years OPG have published over 50 peer reviewed research papers, released 6 software applications and tutorials to aid other researchers and clinicians, presented at 30 National and International meetings and given 7 workshops at international locations.
School of Pharmacy staff and students gather at 63 Hanover Street for the official opening and blessing.
Otago School of Pharmacy's new office space at 63 Hanover Street.